There has been a slight change made to the process of adding and dropping courses for the 2016-17 academic year. Prior to this point, there was a three-week period from the start of the semester that students could add classes; students are now given two weeks.
While the add period has undergone a minor change, students still have a five-week period to drop classes they do not wish to stay enrolled in. This year’s deadline falls on Sept. 30, the semester’s fifth week.
The change of the add period was approved by Faculty Senate last spring in an effort to “settle the semester earlier,” as University Registrar Andy Colby put it. “The three week add period consumed 20 percent of the semester, so the change is to make sure students and instructors alike are able to have the fullest part of the semester to concentrate on their work,” Colby said.
According to Colby, the vast majority of classes being added are done in the first two weeks of the semester anyway, so an extra week was essentially unnecessary.
The last time any changes were made to the add/drop process was fall 2015 when the Faculty Senate began allowing the use of RAC numbers for adding and dropping classes during the first week of the semester. Additionally, starting fall 2015, the university changed when a student could attempt to register for a fifth class. Previously, students had to wait for the semester to begin before they could make such a change to their schedule. Now they can attempt to register for an additional class one week before the semester begins on Blackboard.
Although students are no longer able to add classes this semester, since the deadline for doing so was Sept. 9, they do still have until Sept. 30 to drop any classes.
With the deadline quickly approaching, it is important for students to decide quickly when considering dropping a course. Once the deadline has passed, students have to petition to the dean of their college if they want to add or drop a course. “Even then, the petition itself doesn’t mean that the student’s request will be approved,” Colby said. “It is the student’s avenue to attempt to prove an extenuating circumstance that delayed either the add or the drop.”